April 19, 2004
Here Come the Clowns
So, one of the ideas that Christine Page gave us to try durng the training, was to ask for the answer to a simple question over lunch.
Our clump of fabulous energy went off to Constantino's in search of Robert, the debonnaire, and a great dining experience -- more about that later.
My luncheon question was "What's next?"
One of us received a definitive answer on the way back from an exquisite al fresco meal. The answer was. "Keep exercising."
The part of me that had been chanting "You can't do this" like a Motown back up singer , had the volume turned up loud by then.
We were late, rushing to get back before the afternoon session began, especially since we were seated front row center (all four days). I had to stop to take this picture on the way, even though I thought I would be tardy. When I downloaded it yesterday, I didn't think it was particularly great. It was, however, my answer. The clowns are next.
Wasn't I just carrying on to Margaret Gunning about her church hiring clowns to do the Good Friday service?
Also my friend mentioned the article in the New York Times Magazine about "Billionaires for Bush" , which I had somehow missed. I thought that it was a fabuolous approach to deal with contrast.
From a Boston Globe article:
"The Billionaires for Bush group is among several activist organizations sprouting up in recent years whose main tactics include humor and irony. "Reverend Billy" and his "Church of Stop Shopping," an anticonsumerism organization, stages church-revival-type rallies with a preacher. Then there is a group that purports to be made up of "housewives" from Bush's hometown of Crawford, Texas, with proverbs such as "A bomb, in time, saves 9" and "A country bribed is an ally earned." The "housewives" have made appearances at Times Square in New York, where they dressed up in red, white, and blue, and straddled plastic missiles."
Clowns are ancient figures, often the "only courtiers who enjoyed free speech who could speak their minds to the monarch. .. usually"
Photo note: Clown showing an SUV where to go, not to mention yours truly.
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Posted by Dakota at April 19, 2004 08:32 PMHerein, a quote from ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION by Tom Robbins:
"The clown is a creature of chaos. His appearance is an affront to our sense of dignity, his actions a mockery of our sense of order. The clown (freedom) is always being chased by the policeman (authority). Clowns are funny precisely because their shy hopes lead invariably to brief flings of (exhilarating?) disorder followed by crushing retaliation from the status quo. It delights us to watch a careless clown break taboos; it thrills us vicariously to watch him run wild and free; it reassures us to see him slapped down and order restored. After all, we can condone liberty only up to a point. Consider Jesus as a ragged, nonconforming clown - laughed at, persecuted and despised - playing out the dumb show of his crucifixion against the responsible pretensions of authority. CUT!"
Kind of puts Good Friday into perspective.
M
Posted by: Margaret Gunning at April 19, 2004 11:07 PMDear Margaret -
I can always count on you for further edification -- that's JUST what I needed to know. Thank you.
I should add that I finished "Better Than Life" chortling all the way, and now realize that your book is full of clowns too. All shapes, sizes and sexes.
Pushing the boundaries of liberty, hoping to avoid crushing retaliation for the moment. I remain, your ardent fan, Dakota
Posted by: Dakota at April 20, 2004 06:38 AMMore about clowns!!!
Got watching a PBS show on Ram Dass: called FIERCE GRACE. Worth seeing if it comes on again. . . I knew little about him, and his recent stroke has purified him as nothing else. But what really caught my attention was commentary by none other than Wavy Gravy, the counterculture clown. I remember him in the film Woodstock ("Breakfast in bed for 400,000!"), and apparently he is still at it after all these years. His web site is worth checking out. This is a truly unselfish clown with a great heart.
Long may he wave!
M
Posted by: margaret gunning at April 26, 2004 12:02 PMI did indeed check out his website - "I am an activist clown and a frozen treat"
Activist clowns certainly have their work cut out for them with our current administration. Actually, it's been very hard to tell the clowns from the clowns lately.
Now I shall have to check out Ben & Jerry's Wavy Gravy, for artistic purposes. Someone's gotta do it.
Posted by: Dakota at April 26, 2004 09:53 PM